Gifted Issues Discussion homepage Forums Regions San Francisco Bay Area

Here are some of the gifted schools in the San Francisco Bay Area. A good start is http://www.hoagiesgifted.org/schools.htm and I also recommend this in general http://www.hoagiesgifted.org/table_of_contents.htm

I will try to stay objective in this initial post. Subjective comments can be added to this thread, particularly if you have actually participated in one of these. There is also some discussion at http://www.greatschools.org/ and at http://www.yelp.com. See also http://www.pampclub.org/ and http://parents.berkeley.edu/. None of these are strictly about gifted, but some parents discuss some relvant schools. See also http://www.glassdoor.com/ for former employees grousing. Bear in mind that people do tend to be more motivated to post negative than positive.

http://www.sfbaghs.org/ has a google mailing list and hundreds of members and frequent gatherings. They are focused on actively homeschooling gifted children in the Bay Area. You can usually participate for a while but if you don’t end up homeschooling after all you then withdraw. They don’t support a wider ranging discussion of public/private schools.

And that’s why I’m starting this thread. And note that home schooling is a very viable option in the Bay Area. So here are some "gifted" schools in the Bay Area:

http://www.altavistaschoolsf.org/
https://www.altschool.com/
http://www.athenaacademy.org/
http://www.baywoodlearningcenter.org/
http://www.beachhigh.education/
http://ourgiftedchildren.net/
http://www.gateacademy.org/
http://www.harker.org/
http://www.heliosns.org/
http://www.hillbrook.org/
http://mcnaughtschool.org/
http://www.nuevaschool.org/
http://www.odysseyms.org/
http://www.synapseschool.org/

These schools range from small to large, from a few grades to K-12. Note that your mileage may vary as far as what gifted means in practice at each of these schools. There are schools that use the word gifted on their website but don’t in practice do much with it except file away an optional IQ test. Conversely there are schools that don’t use the word gifted, but where a gifted child can do well. For example AltSchool’s goal is to customize every student’s education. And there are school districts like Palo Alto who stopped even using IQ tests. Since, all their students are gifted…

How do you define gifted, and how does the school? Do they IQ test applicants? What do gifted students need and how does their school provide it? Which of their staff have background in gifted? How many of their students are how gifted?

Here's a related thread. http://giftedissues.davidsongifted....s_in_San_Francisco_for_g.html#Post213137 Note that the default filter need to be reset if you want to go back more than 3 months.

I'm going to offer some subjective thoughts about these schools. The bigger schools are Nueva and Harker which go K-12. Nueva recently expanded to add high school. The mid-size schools are Helios, Synapse, and AltSchool. Helios recently moved to a new leased campus and is over the next year or two filling out by adding years up to K-8 (adding 7th grade in 2015) and filling up each grade up to 18 students.

With all schools the most students are admitted with the new kindergarten class. The process of applying is often difficult and heartbreaking.

Harker is actually a large school and it does discuss gifted, has some teachers with gifted background, and an IQ test is part of the admissions. I think of them more as a prep school that encourages competition, than a school that nurtures tender tall poppies. More of a focus on achievement than on seeking or coddling raw cognitive talent. But I did not attend; for all these schools we should get feedback from people who were actually there. Some of this is available on greatschools, yelp, glassdoor, etc. though rarely from the gifted point of view. Some gifted children may have the right personality to thrive at Harker. With all of this, it depends on the child. Anyway they are said to be 1/3 asian, 1/3 south-asian, and something of a "tiger (mom) sanctuary". They do get kids into top colleges.

I'll be similarly unfair to Nueva, which requires a WISC IQ test. I think I can fairly say though that they have developed a reputation for requiring a 130 IQ but avoiding 145 and up. And instead catering to parents with high net worth.

Helios is fine, but people sometimes wonder where is the olympic swimming pool for the market rate tuition they charge. They don't mind quantitative IQ tests but their philosophy is a qualitative assessment. They aim to support the EQ needs of those with high IQ. But here again IQ is not their main selection criteria. They'll admit a kid with a lower IQ over a sibling applicant if he seems easier to manage or is more extroverted. Any school that is fairly new and growing this rapidly would have some growing pains. The parent community is not as strong as it should be, partly due to their transition to a new obscure (if larger) location in Sunnyvale. However once you get there, they do have a generally strong staff. This year they have a new admissions director. They provide subject matter acceleration and relatively gifted peers.

AltSchool does not use the word gifted on their website, nor ask any IQ test. However they customize each and every kids education. Certainly, their marketing staff did their homework: rather than a product that can appeal to 1% of the customers, they have one that can appeal to 100%. They are extremely selective about hiring teachers. Many parents who were shut out by the above schools are considering them for gifted. I have also met more than a few local parents who are not happy with the vaunted Palo Alto schools and trying out AltSchool's new Palo Alto campus. AltSchool recently received $100 million in investment to launch more micro-campuses.

Synapse is also a popular option. They take an IQ test but I'm not sure they do much with it. My concern was whether their focus was diluted by their corporate training arm. That said with all these schools, we have to remember that they are more than fully booked with presumably happy enough parents and children. And that by and large these schools have many more applicants than seats.

I am sure there are some new schools I missed if anyone can add them to the thread.

Thanks a lot for the thread!!! I am searching so hard for the gifted group in SF bay area, wanna meet some parents with gifted kids and know more about the options for the schools too.

thx1138, thanks for the comprehensive list. From a brief glance through the websites it seems like if you want to customize your kids curriculum like you might do in college:
- Different grade levels for different subjects
- Language choices
- Elective choices

the only real choice seems to be Altschool. Is that correct?

Another new elementary school open in Fremont,
Basis Independent
http://fremont.basisindependent.com/home/index.php

I've run into more than one gifted child there though, probably 10-15% gifted kids there, not the 1% you'd expect statistically from a general population. Still, AltSchool never uses the word gifted. There is only so much customization they can do. That said, my PG DS seems happy every time I pick him up, they let him work 2 years ahead in math, and his MAP score is increasing.

@thx1138 - would you be willing to chat offline? considering Alt as an option for one or both of my kids.

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There is only so much customization they can do. That said, my PG DS seems happy every time I pick him up, they let him work 2 years ahead in math, and his MAP score is increasing. [/quote]
Would it be possible to elaborate on how they are different from other schools in terms of customization?

A few weeks ago, AltSchool laid off most of its innovation and strategy staff. Don't know if this means trouble or not.